Golden Gate`s Coastal Trail - Photograph America Newsletter

™
66
Updated - March, 2016
Where, when, and how
to discover the best
photography in America
Published since 1989
T
Looking south on the SCA Trail 37,49.9603N 122,29.0325W
he San Francisco Bay is surrounded
by rolling hills covered with oaks.
The Petaluma River and wetland marshes
are to the north and the beaches of Point
Reyes National Seashore are a few miles
to the west. On the southern tip of Marin
County are the Marin Headlands, south
of Mill Valley and west of Sausalito. The
Headlands rise steeply from the north
shore of the Golden Gate Bridge, the entrance into San Francisco Bay.
The Coastal Trail winds through the hills
of western Marin County, across the
Golden Gate Bridge, then follows steep
cliffs south of the Golden Gate. The trail
continues along the sandy shore of Baker
Beach, passes through forests of Monterey cypress and climbs above the surf
for panoramic views of the bridge, the
Marin Headlands, and Lands End. From
the Golden Gate Bridge to Fort Funston,
the San Francisco section of the Coastal
Trail winds for nine miles along the city’s
western coastline.
The Golden Gate’s
Coastal Trail
This newsletter describes some of my
favorite tripod holes, in places along the
Coastal Trail. The next time you visit San
Francisco, bring your camera gear and
your hiking boots.
issue 66 - page 2
Battery Spencer
Battery Spencer overlook 37,49.6503N 122,28.8961W
T
he National Park Service protects
the Marin Headlands and the
Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
Almost all of San Francisco’s ocean
coastline and most of Marin County’s
are public lands open and accessible to
everyone. A Coastal Trail winds south,
along the western slopes of Mount Tamalpais and the edge of Rodeo Lagoon
on the western shore of Fort Cronkhite,
a former military post. At the south
end of the Golden Gate Bridge, the trail
crosses under the roadway and heads
west along Baker Beach, before following paved sidewalks through a few
blocks of exclusive and private residences in the neighborhood of Sea Cliff.
Just beyond China Beach, the Coastal
Trail enters a forest of cypress, pines,
and eucalyptus as it winds up and
down the ridge line along rugged bluffs
above crashing surf on the south shore
of the Golden Gate. The Coastal Trail
takes you to Lands End, around the
cliffs above Point Lobos and past the
Cliff House. Out on the western edge of
San Francisco, the Coastal Trail heads
south at Seal Rocks to follow the edge
of the surf. Hikers can walk the solid
wet sand along Ocean Beach to Mussel
Rock, near Daly City.
Start your explorations by photographing the Golden Gate Bridge
from Battery Spencer. Head north
across the bridge from San Francisco and take the Alexander Avenue
exit. Turn left at the stop sign and
go under the highway. Turn right
(not back onto the bridge) and drive
up the hill on Conzelman Road. A
half mile up Conzelman Road, park
on the left side of the road in the
turnout near the old brick buildings
of Battery Spencer.
A trail leads through the concrete
gun emplacements to an overlook
above the north tower of the Golden
Gate Bridge. Arrive in the late afternoon when low, warm rays of sunlight
make the orange hues of the bridge
glow. Walk out toward the north tower of the bridge as far as necessary to
frame the skyline of the city in the steel
cables. This is a great location for photographing sunrises above the city or
fingers of fog creeping over the span.
Kirby Cove
Turn toward the west and look down
from the overlook at Battery Spencer.
Below is a small, sandy beach just west
of the base of the bridge’s north tower.
Kirby Cove has a wonderful view of San
Francisco, framed beneath the span of
the bridge and above a sandy beach.
Allow two hours for the walk down and
back.
Leave your car in the same spot where
you parked at Battery Spencer. The
gate at the trail down to Kirby Cove is
a few feet west of the parking area. It’s
a one-mile walk down a wide, graded-gravel incline, a scenic trail down to
the beach.
The Golden Gate’s Coastal Trail
issue 66 - page 4
This trail passes through groves of tall
eucalyptus and wind-blown Monterey
cypress. A group campground is at the
bottom, just above the beach.
With the right amount of winter rain,
California poppies can cover the bluffs
above the Golden Gate through April.
By the end of May, green grass covering
California’s coastal ranges has turned
golden yellow. By mid-June, the dry
grass weathers to a muted shade of
brown until the first winter rains bring
forth new fields of green grass.
The view from Kirby Cove 37,49.6172N 122,29.4514W
GGNRA Centers
Back at your car, drive west out to the
beach on the Pacific side of the Marin
Headlands. Stop at the Golden Gate
National Recreation Area Visitor Center in the Fort Barry Chapel. Here you
can pick up a free hiking trail map and
ask your questions about the area. They
have natural history exhibits, old photos of the historic military installations,
and a large selection of hiking guides,
trail maps, and books on the area for
sale.
Continue west from the Visitor Center, making right turns at the next two
corners. Drive up the hill above Rodeo
Lagoon into the California Marine
Mammal Center. This nonprofit group
cares for and rehabilitates sick and
injured marine mammals. A chain-link
fence around the enclosures prevents
photographers from getting close-ups
of the seal lions and elephant seals.
Ask for permission at the visitor center
to get escorted through the gate and a
little closer.
Up the Morning Sun Trail
Go east on Bunker Road to the onelane Baker-Barry Tunnel. There is a
five-minute wait for the green
light that allows cars from
either end to alternately enter the long, narrow, one-way
tunnel. The 2,300-foot-long
tunnel takes you under the
highway to Alexander Avenue.
Turn right (south) and follow
the signs to continue north on
Highway 101.
Continue through the Waldo
(“Rainbow”) Tunnel, take the
next exit (Spencer Avenue/
Monte Mar Drive exit) onto
the frontage road (Monte Mar
Drive), and drive a quarter
mile past the fire station. Turn west
(left) under the freeway overpass, and
park in the small park-and-ride lot
on this west side of the freeway. The
trailhead is across the road (west side).
Watch out for the traffic that comes off
the freeway, around a blind curve.
The stairs that climb up the Morning
Sun Trail zigzag up the steep hillside
through a dense grove of oaks that
make an especially nice composition in
the fog. It’s often foggy this close to the
Golden Gate Bridge. The stairs, formed
of rough wooden beams, climb to an
opening above the oak grove for a great
view of Sausalito and Angel Island in
the bay below.
issue 66 - page 5
You cross a chaparral-covered flat
before the trail continues climbing
through a grove of pines and then a
jungle of tall eucalyptus near the top of
the ridge. When you see the eucalyptus,
you’ll know you are nearing the end of
the climb.
The Morning Sun Trail 37,51.1916N 122,29.6184W
The trail is steep, but short. It takes less
than fifteen minutes to reach the top of
the Morning Sun Trail.
From this point on, you will be out of
the woods and walking trails across
open rolling hills with views in every direction. Turn right on the marked Alta
Trail and walk a half-mile to the Bobcat
Trail junction. Turn left and walk a few
hundred feet down hill to the left turn
onto the Rodeo Valley Cutoff Trail.
All these trails are well-marked. This
trail climbs gradually and circles
around the highest peak (1,111 feet). In
a quarter-mile, you’ll round the peak
and drop over the ridge for another
view of the city. It takes about forty-five
minutes from the start up the stairs to
this spot on the Rodeo Valley Cutoff
Trail. This is an afternoon photograph.
Both the city and the hills in the foreground will be backlit silhouettes in the
morning.
A short telephoto or a normal lens will
frame this scene perfectly, depending
on how much foreground you want to
include.
S.F. Skyline Panoramas
Continue on Highway 101, heading
north, past the last Sausalito exit,
staying in the right lane. Take the
Highway One exit, and follow the
Shoreline Highway one mile west
of the freeway toward Stinson
Beach and Muir Woods. After
passing through the first stop
light, turn left at the next stop
light onto Tennessee Valley Road.
It’s a two-mile drive through the
hills, out to the end of the pavement to a large unpaved parking
lot.
Pack your gear and head up the
road leading to the entrance of
the Miwok Riding Stables. The wide
and smooth Marincello Trail veers left
just beyond the parking lot. The Miwok
trailhead is on the left, a bit farther up
the road toward the stable. The Miwok
Trail is narrow, steeper, and deeply
eroded in many places. The Miwok is
a shorter and more direct route to the
spot you’re headed for.
To reach one of the best views of the
San Francisco skyline framed in the
rolling hills of the Marin Headlands,
climb nine-hundred feet to the top of
the ridge. The best viewpoint is at the
junction of the Miwok Trail and the
Bobcat Trail. You can reach the same
spot via the more gradually inclined,
but longer, Marincello Trail. When
the Marincello Trail reaches the Bobcat Trail, turn right and climb uphill a
quarter-mile west to the Bobcat/Miwok
junction.
issue 66 - page 6
It takes about forty-five minutes to
walk from my car in the parking lot to
the viewpoint above the San Francisco
skyline on the Miwok Trail. Coming
back down the Marincello Trail takes
about the same amount of time because
it’s not as steep as the Miwok. Bicycles
are permitted on the Marincello Trail
but are not allowed on the Miwok Trail.
The best photograph here is a late
afternoon image. Be up there on the
ridge an hour before sunset, ready
for the perfect light. Watch for
the shadows across the hills in the
foreground.
The more southerly angle of the
winter sun casts shadows over the
Gerbode Valley below the ridge.
Summer evening light fills in the
deep shadows across the distant
hillsides and may improve your
compositions but you may not get
down off the hill and back to your
car before 10:00 pm because of
more daylight hours.
Summer is the foggy season along
the California Coast. The view can
be obscured by fog coming in through
the Golden Gate. Arrive at the Tennessee Valley trailhead no later than two
hours before sunset. That may be as
early as 2:00 pm in mid-winter.
Vista Point
There is an observation point and a
large parking lot at Vista Point on the
northeast end of the bridge. My favorite image from this point can be taken
from one spot. A long ring of stone
pillars support a low wall around the
viewing area. Find the spot nearest the
highway, on the right end of the sidewalk behind the wall, where you can
line up the south tower in the exact
center of the north tower.
I’ve used lenses from 200 mm to 600
mm to frame the lower tower opening.
The extreme foreshortening of these
longer lenses makes the hump in the
middle of the bridge appear much
steeper than it really is. Arrive before
sunrise during commute hours and the
bridge will be illuminated with headlights and taillights. For reflections on
wet pavement, photograph from this
spot on a rainy morning.
Fog through the bridge 37,49.9361N 122,28.7997W
Driving south across the Golden Gate
Bridge, stay in the right lane, the wide
lane for buses, and continue through
the last toll booth on the right side.
Tolls are no longer collected by a toll
taker; your license plate is photographed and a toll invoice is sent. Take
the first right turn, fifty feet beyond the
toll booths. The sign is marked “25th
Avenue Exit.” Drive past the toll plaza
parking area and up the hill a short distance on Merchant Road. Just beyond
the bridge employee parking area, there
are wide shoulders on the road where
you can park and take Bluffs Trail that
passes four old military bunkers and
gun emplacements at the top of the
cliffs on the ocean side of the Golden
Gate Bridge.
issue 66 - page 7
Cypress Grove
At the stop sign, turn right onto Lincoln
Blvd. Turn left at Washington Avenue
and continue to the small parking lot
on the right just before the World War
II Maritime Memorial to service men
lost in the Pacific. Park in the lot.
Baker Beach
Mile-long Baker Beach lies on the west
side of the Presidio and offers some
spectacular views of the Marin Headlands and the bridge. The bottom of the
trail reaches the beach at a point where
you can photograph the bridge and the
Marin Headlands with crashing
surf breaking over the rocks at
the north end of the beach. This
area is in deep shadow in the
morning. Arrive late in the afternoon or closer to sunset for the
best light on the scene.
Sea Cliff to China Beach
Cypress grove in the Presidio
Across the road, the large grove of
tall cypress is a wonderful place for
photography on a foggy day. A multitude of vertical tree trunks
disappear into the mists. Arrive
mid-morning, wait for the sun
to burn through the top of the
fog banks, and you’ll see long
rays of sunlight streaming down
through the forest, a magical
sight.
Leave your car parked in the
same lot and walk north, back
along Washington Blvd. toward
the bridge. Walk across Lincoln
to the walking trail for a view
of both towers of Golden Gate
Bridge. Return to your car and
continue southwest on Lincoln
Blvd. Follow the signs to Baker Beach
and park in the lot.
You can drive or hike from Baker
Beach to China Beach. Use a
city map for the best route. For
the trek, there’s a small gap in
the Coastal Trail through the
neighborhood of Sea Cliff, where
homes have been built down to
the edge of the bluffs above the Golden
Gate. After leaving the south end of Baker Beach, hikers must walk eight blocks
Baker Beach 37,47.7777N 122,28.943W
of city sidewalks through Sea Cliff.
Follow Lincoln Blvd., called El Camino
Del Mar, starting at the edge of Sea Cliff.
Except for China Beach, a few blocks
issue 66 - page 8
west, there are no views and no public
access to the shore at Sea Cliff.
China Beach is a tiny cove between
Baker Beach and Lands End. It was
named for the Chinese fishermen who
anchored their junks in the cove and
camped on the beach. I spread
out a large plastic bag to lie on
and used a 17 mm wide-angle
lens to frame the whole beach
and the Golden Gate Bridge in
the distance.
these rocks while trying to enter the
Golden Gate. According to maritime
records, there have been ninety-seven
shipwrecks on the shores of the Golden Gate–from Spanish Galleons to oil
tankers.
Lands End Trail
Drive west on El Camino Del
Mar. After crossing 32nd Avenue, at the eastern end of the
Lincoln Park Golf Course, park
along the El Camino Del Mar at
the beginning of the Lands End
Trail where it descends through
forests of pine, cypress, and
eucalyptus along the ridge
above the steep cliffs lining the
south side of the Golden Gate.
In places, the trail is steep
and narrow, along precipitous
viewpoints. There are many
wooden stairs and some flat
and level stretches. Several
side trails off the Lands End
Trail lead steeply up to El
Camino Del Mar, the western
extension of Lincoln Blvd.
Several side trails off the
Coastal Trail lead down to the
top of the cliffs above Lands
End, the wildest and most rugged point
along this coastline. The easiest and
safest trail descends a narrow wooden
stairway. At the bottom, bear right and
follow a trail out to an old gun emplacement at Lands End. When the tides are
low, you might see the remains of the
Lyman Stewart, the Frank Buck, and
the Ohioan, ships that ran aground on
Stairs on the Coastal Trail 37,47.0794N 122,30.3421W
The view from Lands End 37,47.0053N 122,30.6347W
Cliff House / Sutro Heights
Return to your car, continue on to the
Legion of Honor, turn around in their
lot and head back along El Camino Del
Mar to 32nd Avenue. Turn right onto
32nd Avenue; continue to Geary Blvd.
Drive west (right) on Geary Blvd., stay
to the right and merge onto Point Lobos Avenue.
issue 66 - page 9
As you approach Point Lobos, on the
right is a parking lot and the visitor
center, Point Lobos Lookout. Below the
visitor center are the remains of Sutro
Baths, built in the 1880s by Adolph
Sutro. The Sutro gardens, once an open
area of sand dunes, are filled with exotic trees and flowers and surrounded
with wide lawns and formal gardens
decorated with statuary. The original
pair of stone lions still guard the entrance to the Sutro Heights Garden at
the corner of 48th Avenue and Point
Lobos Avenue.
For the best viewpoint, walk out onto
the beach. You can see the Cliff House
to the north and all the way down
Ocean Beach to the south. This is another excellent spot to wait for a perfect
sunset.
Fort Point
Driving south across the Golden Gate
Bridge, stay in the right lane and continue through the last toll booth on the
right side. As you did to get to Point
Lobos, take the first right turn, fifty
feet beyond the toll booths. The sign is
marked “25th Avenue Exit.”
Drive past the toll plaza parking area near the bridge offices
and up the hill a short distance
on Merchant Road. But this
time at the intersection withLincoln Blvd., turn left and
drive under the freeway. Continue along Lincoln Blvd. to
Long Avenue on the left. Turn
left onto Long Avenue, continuing to the end as it becomes
Marine Drive.
The Cliff House above Ocean Beach 37,46.6022N 122,30.8133W
Walk down the hill to the stairs below
the Cliff House restaurant to photograph the sea lions or to visit the Giant
Camera Obscura. Steller sea lions, with
lighter-colored coats, and darker California sea lions bask in the sun on Seal
Rocks just below the Cliff House.
Drive Point Lobos Avenue around the
point and past the Cliff House. As you
continue south and onto the Great
Highway, park at the northend of the
long Ocean Beach parking area near the
intersection of Balboa Street.
Sitting beneath the south end
of the Golden Gate Bridge, Fort
Point is a classic example of
a pre-Civil War brick fortress and is a
National Historic Site. Climb the cast
iron stairs to the third level to photograph the long row of red brick arches
receding into the distance.
Palace of Fine Arts
From Fort Point, drive east along Marine Drive and Long Avenue. Turn left
onto Lincoln Blvd. Follow the map to
continue along Lincoln Blvd., winding
along and parelleling Doyle Drive. Just
beyond Funston Avenue on the right,
turn left onto Girard Road.
issue 66 - page 10
Girard Road merges into Marina Blvd.
As soon as Lincoln straightens out, turn
right onto Baker Street. Park any where
along here to photograph the restored
ruins of the Palace of Fine Arts, part of
the 1915 Panama Pacific International
Exposition.
The first, and most obvious, thing to
photograph along the edge of the park
is the large Dutch windmill facing the
sea. In the 1800s, these windmills
pumped water to irrigate thousands
of acres of gardens planted on sand
dunes.
Fort Funston
The Palace of Fine Arts 37,48.1492N 122,26.825W
Ocean Beach
The Coastal Trail extends south from
the Cliff House along Ocean Beach and
the western edge of Gold
Gate Park. The beach is
wide, and it’s easy to walk
for miles along the damp
and firm edge of the surf.
It can be cold and foggy in
the summer but a wonderful place to walk in October
and November. Walk out
through the dune grass to
shoot the flocks of snowy
plovers wading in the surf.
If it’s too cold and windy
on the beach, walk through
the western end of Golden
Gate Park. Golden Gate
Park is a city park and not a part of the
Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
Golden Gate Park is four miles long
from east to west and a half-mile wide
along the beach.
To reach Fort Funston from the
highway, drive south along the
Great Highway and Ocean Beach.
Merge onto Skyline Blvd. and
continue on to Fort Funston. In
less than a mile beyond the foot of
Sloat Boulevard, the Great Highway merges into Skyline Boulevard.
Turn right and head south, through
the traffic lights at John Muir Drive.
Drive to the top of the hill and turn
right at the sign marking the entrance to Fort Funston. Park in the
southwest corner of the parking lot.
Fort Funston is one of the best hang
gliding areas along the California Coast.
Trail to Fort Funston Beach 37,42.8078N 122,30.1649W
Arrive on a clear and windy weekend
and photograph colorful hang gliders
as their pilots take running leaps off
the edge of tall cliffs. Photograph the
hang gliders from the large observation
issue 66 - page 11
platform above the cliffs or climb down
to the beach and shoot up from below.
There is a trail on the south side of
the hang glider launching area where
you can walk down to the beach on the
wooden steps called the “sand ladder.”
These round wooden poles, five-feet
long, are spaced eighteen inches apart
and strung on steel cables. They are
surprisingly easy to climb and work
very well to prevent erosion on the
steep cliffs above Ocean Beach.
Old pilings on Fort Funston Beach 37,42.3178N 122,30.0952W
It takes a few minutes to climb two
hundred feet down the steep sand
ladders and another ten minutes walking to the south to reach old wooden
pilings on the beach. Like most of the
Pacific Coast facing the setting sun, this
spot is best photographed late in the
day when the old pilings are casting
long shadows across the sand (above).
Returning north to Fort Funston, you
can pass the sand ladder and continue
walking up the beach as far as the Sun-
set Trail before climbing up the bluffs
and returning to your car in the parking lot by winding through the cypress
groves of Battery Davis. This two-andhalf-mile loop trail follows the edge
of bluffs for some great views looking
north along the coast, all the way to
the entrance of the Golden Gate. Bank
swallows nest in holes in the sandy
cliffs below Fort Funston. Some of the
trails out to the edge of the cliffs may
be closed during nesting season.
Hike the length of
the Golden Gate’s
Coastal Trail in a
couple of days or
break it up into
short and easy
sections spaced out
as long as you wish.
Walk the Marin
Headlands trails in
the spring when the
hills are green and
covered with wildflowers. Explore the
Lands End Trail in
the summer when
dense fogs blanket
the California Coast
for days on end.
The low angle of the
winter sun casts longer shadows across
the dune grass and the sun sets early
enough in the day that you can finish
your photography and still get home, or
back to your hotel, in time for dinner.
Pilings on Fort Funston Beach 37, 42.3889N 122,30.1223W
If you have the time:
Near the top of Marin’s Mt. Tamalpais, Pan
Toll Trail follows Webb Creek cascading
down a narrow canyon filled with redwoods
and ferns. You’ll find great photography
along this 2.2 mile trail that ends at Highway One above Red Rock Beach, just south
of Stinson Beach.
Point Bonita Lighthouse is two miles west
of the Battery Spencer parking lot. Visiting
hours are 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Fort Point is located directly below the
south end of the Golden Gate Bridge. Red
brick arches supporting the upper levels
stretch into the distance making dramatic
patterns that reflect in pools of rainwater
after a storm.
Have a great trip.
My life-long career in photography began at San Jose
State University in 1957. After college, I enlisted in the
U.S. Army Signal Corps, serving as a photographer and
darkroom technician. In Germany, my skills and experience with equipment and lab work were developed
and polished. I took the opportunity to photograph
the beauty of nature in the Black Forest. Returning to
California in 1965, I produced industrial and military
training films for Raytheon Electronics and began
showing my color nature prints. From 1969 through
1981, my photography was exhibited and sold in West
Coast galleries. During the early 1980’s, I taught color
darkroom workshops, then expanded to include field
trips. Former customers, who had purchased my
framed photographs, wanted to learn photography.
My Pacific Image Photography Workshops offered
adventures to the Pacific Coast, the Southwest deserts,
national parks, Hawaii, New England, Canada, England, and the South Pacific. The workshops evolved
into writing and sharing my adventures with others.
Photograph America Newsletter provides information
on where, when, and how to discover the best nature
photography in North America.
Photograph America Newsletter
is published quarterly (four issues per year)
by Robert Hitchman
with the assistance of technical associate/wife, Katherine
Post Office Box 86 Novato, CA 94948-0086
1-415-898-9677
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